Device employed for exterminating rats, mice, and other animals.



No. 883,611. PATENTED MAR. 31, 1908. J. BARAD & E. E. MARKOFP.

DEVICE EMPLOYED FOR EXTERMINATING RATS, MICE, AND OTHER ANIMALS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 16. 1907.

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Be it known that we, Josarn fzen of the United States-of America, and ED- the lure or bait' attache waan E. Manon, a subject of the Czar of Russia,"and-residente of the city and'count of .Providence and State of Rhod'e Islan I vantage of the peculiar characteristic or inhave jointly invented certain new and use Improvements in Devices Employed for Exterminating Rats, Mice, and other Animals,

of which the 'following 1s a specification.

Our invention relates-to improved means for exterminatin rats, mice, &c., and it conessentially'o a device having a normally closed laterally separable annular frame, an endless flexible resilient band or collar sup ported by and encircling said annular part of the frame, and spring-resisted tripping means 'operatively connected with a member of the frame, all constructed and arranged whereby ananimal, say a rat, uponintroducing its head through the frame 0 ning and seizing to said tripping means automatically releases the latter,

"constructed that which action at the same instant also releases and segarateathe said frame member and frees t e expanded band, which latter then immediately contracts around the animals neck before he can retreat from the device or apparatus. The thus bedecked animalis not caught or confined in any manner whatever but is to; return to its hole and colony.

We are of course well aware that variouskilads amli typesd f of traps have been devised an em oye or c tunng rodent 51d others P ecaptives are-kept uninjured, and other traps and ed to killthe. animals outright. We disc aim all i such former class of articlesor apparatus.

. cause the animal is neither cau'g head and neck into the While our invention might be termed an animal trap it is in fact not a tug at all, bet, confined nor killed in or by it and is free to' enter its device and to readily t is afwell-known fact that certain ammals, as rats, mice and analogous animals of the rodent clad are naturally excessively sly family, although at times working totherin harmony, as for example, in carry-' ing and-etc and 'distrustful, even to members of their cod and articles having I weig t and ,bulkinass. It is volutions of the spring to more firmly hold it amm' alsbecf the' some traps so five 'set position, as in use. Fig. v2 18 a simllar name-ea we, 190s.

also known that the sound or of a 6 bell is. asa mle very terrifying to animals of the species named and that if pursued by such sounds they will immediately vacate their haunts and homes, never to return.

The object we have in view is to. take ad- 6 stinct inherent say in the animal class just referred to, to that end we have invented and produced an extremely simple and inexpen sive automaticdevice or mechanism capable 6 when pro erly positioned and set of enticing. an as a rat, to it so that when he nibbles or touches the bait thepreviousl set tripping means and the annular spring band or collar, ha one or more small bells at 7 tached to it, w' be released simultaneously,- the thus freed bell-carrying band at the same instant contrap around the rat's neck. The bell-rat" as it may be termed, then in seeking its burrow or colony announces his 7 coming by the sounds emitted by the bells,

thereby frightening the otherrats and causing them to flee, thus practically exterminating them in a sure and economical manner. It may beadded that the spripig-band or 001- 8 lar is not liable to become -acci entally lost or slip from the rat s neck because the adjacent hairs soon become interwoven with the conin lace.

the accom anying sheet of drawings, F 1 is a ongitudinal sectional view ta en through the center of an animal exterminating apparatus embodying our invention, the device being represented in the nor- 9 sectional view showing the tripp' mechanism sprung or liberate as in norm action. Fig. 3 is a transverse section taken on line 3, 3 of Fig. 1. In this figure the spring-band or collar is represented as being temporarily supported on fixed pins prelim1-. nary to setting the triprping 'means and before the band is taken cm the pins and allowed to seat itself in the normal position indicated in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 represents a front end view of the device,'lshowing a modified tion of our invention, the device as a who e being indicated by the character A.

Y a substantially rectangular form. See Figs.

3 and 4. The stock of .thesaid front frame member a. extends horizontally at the bottom to form a base part a. which terminates in the upwardly extending rear plate a; If de sired the stock maybe bent to form feet or supports 1:, all being integraL' The cent'er' portion of the front a is pressed rearwardly y suitable tools to produce the beveled circular flange a terminating in the comparatively large unobstructed central opening E.

Pins 1) are fixed at intervals around the -:xterior of the flange for temporarily supportmg the-eprin Ig-band or collar H, soon to be describe he said parts a and a are main-' tained in proper relation or distance apart by means of the horizontal tie-rods t secured to them, as clearly shown. The said back memo ening E, the latter registering or being in ber b of the main frame is made of sheetmetal and also rovided with a beveled circular flange I) @he latter, however, extending toward the front) and a circular central a inement with that o the part .a. The member I) is located between parts a and a.

and is slidably mounted on the rods t; helically-wound springs s carried by the latter and bearing against the adjacent surfaces of the frame members serve to automatically keep the latter separated (as in Fig. 2) except when in the locked or set position, indicated in Fig. 1.

An outer back plate a is movable with the member I) by means of a number of interposed horizontal wires r rigidly secured thereto. These wires are ada ted to slide freely through corresponding ho es formed therefor in the stationary plate a; they also form a guard for protecting the bait g The balt or lure-hook g of the tripping mechanism is ivoted at w to the lower part of plate a. and 1s connected by a link Z jointed to the front end of a thin lever f, in turn pivoted on a fixed swing in a slot 0, ormed centrallym the u per part of the plate 0. The rear end of tile lever has a notch f 2 cut in its underside;

said end (part, when the device is locked or positione for use extendsthrough a slotted opening a formed in the top edge of plate 0. A bar or latch dis suitably mounted or pivoted at d and extends at the rear of the lastnamed plate, the arrangement being such ward edge engages that of the stationary member a; the free end of said lever f then projecting rearwardly through the slot 0 as efore stated so as to permit the correspondsmall bells h attached to it.

fpin and arranged to ing end of the latch d to be moved sidewise into the notch f the several partsthen. appearing substantially as represented in Fig. 1.

It may be stated that the size of the central opening E is made large, enough to ermit the animal to freely introduce its hea and neck therethrough and reach the bait on the hook g, and also to readily allow it to withdraw after seizing the bait.

The other part of our invention resides in the'employment of an endless resilient or elastic and or collar H. We prefer to use for the purpose a spring made of suitable I fine wire wound 1n a helical manner so as to be ca able of expansion and contraction in a radial direction and circumferentially. If desired the collar may have one or more As a matter of convenience in setting the device the collar may be first temporarily mounted on the flange a of the front frame member a, the pins q retaining it in (position as indicated by ull lines in Fig. 3 an by dotted lines in Fi 1. After the apparatus has been fully adjusted and set, that is when the two edges e are brought together, the collar upon being detached from the pins 19 slides downwardly and conforms to the bottom of the V-shaped or self-positioning beveled sides a b, as

shown by full lines in said Fig. 1..

In order to facilitate the placin of the collar upon the pins p the correspon ing part of the front a; may be cut away and a swln ing member m substituted therefor, a hodlr or catch m or other suitable means being employed for securing it in the vertical or closed position, as clearly shown in Fig. 4. The last-named fi ure is partly broken away to show some of tie rear parts more clearly.

From the foregoing description and in connection with the drawings it is clearly apparent that in case the animal introduces its ead and neck into the central opening E of the properly baited and set ap aratus A,

represented in Fi 1, the act of lig tly touch-' ing the bait by t e animal will operate to release the tripping mechanism, at which instant the sprmgs s will force the frame part b rearwardly,- thereby separating the jomt or edges e and producing the comparatively wide transverse opening D (Fig. 2), the expranded collar H at the sametime assing eely downwardly therethroughan automatically contracting itself around the-animals neck before he can retreat.

We do not herewith limit the form and arranglement of the members of our apparatus to t e particular construction of the various arts s own, as it is obvious that theyma e varied without departing from the spirlt and scope of the invention, the essential feature of which is a structure provided with a supprorted resilient band or collar adapted to be eed therefrom-so as to automatically contract and at the same time encircle the neck of the animal by the act of the animal itself.

We claim as our invention and desire to secure by United States Letters-Patent:-

1. A device of the character described having a transversely separable normally closed s rin -pressed frame provided with a lon itu inal y disposed openin arranged to free y receive therein the he'a and neck of an animal, an elastic collar exteriorly surrounded and being operatively supported by the walls of sald opening, and trip ing means, including a bait-carrying mem er, connected with the movable part of said frame adapted to be released -by an animal. 2. In a device of the character described, the combination of a frame divided transversely into two arts, one of which is longitudinally movab e, a central 0 enin extending longitudinally through boiiln said parts of the frame, holding means for normally maintaininglsaid movable partin releasable contact wit its fellow, an elastic collar su ported in an expanded condition around t e walls of the frame at said contact point, and a member-'operatively connected with and arranged to automatically release said holding means by the action of an animal in moving said member, substantially as herein before described and forthe purpose set forth. 3-. In a device of the character described, the combination with a stationary front frame member having a central entrance openin a spring-pressed 'endwise slidable fellow rame member located at the rear of said front member having a central opening therein registering with the first-named opening,'and an endless elastic collar suported in the expanded operative position y the wall surrounding said central openin of means for temporarily supporting the co lar, and a tripping device adapted to be baitedarranged when set to maintain the front edgeof the opening of the slidable frame part in close proximity to the corresponding part of the other frame member, the

said trip in device when sprung permitting the slida le rameto move away from its follow and form an opening D, thereby releasing the said collar and allowing it to pass freely therethrou h, substantially as described.

4:. In aevice of the character described, the combination of a stationary front frame member, a door hinged thereto having a central opening E extending longitudinally. of the device, means carried by the door for temporarily sucpportingan elastic collar, a spring-presse slidable rear frame member having a central 0 ening therein normally registering with said door-opening, trippin means adapted to be released by an amma for maintaining the two frame members in the normal operative position, and an expanded elastic collar encirclin and being normally supported by the wal s surrounding said openings, substantially as described.

JOSEPH BARAD;

' EDWARD E. MARKOFF.

Witnesses: i

GEO. H. REMINGTON, HENRY B. STONE; 

